Poetry Marathon Participants

Search authors by name

Born some fourty plus years ago to a wonderful community of family friends and neighbors in West Philadelphia.i have over twenty years of experience working in the health care industry.Married my friend had two amazing children I call my Sun and Moon , even too great dogs. I would definitely describe myself as a classic city girl with the soul of a Georgia peach..

Born in Jackson, Mississippi in the age of Jim Crow, I’m currently an English teacher living in Minneapolis, Minnesota who still calls Chicago “home.” Between Mississippi and Minneapolis, I’ve also lived and worked in Honshu, Japan and Amherst, Massachusetts. As a student in Chicago, I edited and wrote for my college’s literary magazine. As an English teacher, I have guided students through Creative Writing and Journalism courses. Currently, I am struggling to weave my memories of pivotal people and events from my childhood in Mississippi and Chicago into a book of fiction with the working title Silence and Slow Time. A poem from this book, “Aunt Yvonne Combs Her Hair,” was published in the Spring 2012 issue of Black Magnolias Literary Journal.

I am a creative problem solver and relationship builder! After a career in residential life (5 campuses in 3 states) for over twenty years I am currently un(der) employed and looking for a position where both my experience and formal training in creativity can help a business, organization or nonprofit grow and be recognized. I'm married with two adult children and a spoiled rotten beagle.

I have been writing poems since I wrote my first complete sentence. Maybe even before. Many things have changed in my life over the years, but the one constant is the power of the written word, the poems I dream, the songs inside my head.

Eva Cherokee El Beze grew up in San Francisco, CA in an anarchist theatre collective. Eva has been published in magazines, journals and books for her poetry, personal essays and creative nonfiction as well as won awards for stage and film scripts. You can follow her on Twitter @evaelbeze
She divides her time between India, Europe, Africa and California.

My life it's a deathless adventure with the everyday challenges.✨I'm bless with the gift of motherhood, My girls are my everything, I see my life in the reflection of their eyes.✨
As a single mom i had many challenges, but I would take them all, allover again for my girls.
I'm pursuing a level of education the leads me to a better job and a better income, going back to school at whatever ages, is better than sitting around waiting for a miracle. ✨
✒️Writing it's one of my passion and i'm finally on the road with this project. I like to dream, and work hard on the path to my SUCESS. I can't sit here and wait for it, I must go seeking for my SUCESS. I prefer the true any time, lies would trap you. You can't build on lies, it will disintegrate. The true would always set you free. ✨
Be advise always be yourself, everyone else it's taken. This is why I'm myself, I'm UNIQUE and most important I'm always evolving.This is me✨

Diva that's what my kith and kins call me. Highly passionate to write and feels poetry is the way to pour my heart out. I am a real fun loving and adventurous person and loves to play with words. This Poetry Marathon is a creative way of expressing yourself by seeing the other creative minds moving on with the flow. Getting real fun being a part of it and wishes to be an every year poet from now onwards.

Deborah "D Squared” Dalton is a poet/spoken word artist, domestic and sexual abuse advocate and survivor, currently seeking to poetically share the divine revelations gained while engaged in worship, study, and prayer.
She was born in St. Albans, Queens, New York. Being brought up in a military family, she had the opportunity to be raised all over the world. While enrolled in a pre-engineering program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. While enrolled, she was an active member of the John McLinn Ross Players and performed in the following plays: The River Niger (Wilhelmina Brown) , Tobacco Road (Ada Lester) , Othello (Desdemona) , A Raisin in the Sun (Beneatha Younger) , Aladdin's Lamp (Mother) , Fences (Rose Maxson) , and The Shadow Box (Beverly) . She received an Irene Ryan Acting Award Nomination and an Acting Achievement Award in the Southwest Collegian Regional Competition. She has written several books of poetry, and currently wrapping up a project titled “Life After the Resurrection: A journey of Spiritual Discovery”.
She received her degree in Mechanical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University. After working for 15+ years in construction industry in various project management and design functions, she decided to commit full-time to her calling to engage in the ministry.

I am using this 2015 Poetry Marathon to honor the memory of my grandmother Barbara, who transformed into Light in January of this year. She gave me words to love. It is my best hope to use them now to reflect the beauty of her life.

I am blessed four times over with four wonderful children. All my life I have loved to read and I write poetry. I live in California but I would love to retire in Tennessee on a farm with a porch to have coffee every morning with God, family and friends. God is so good that when my daughter was 2 months old she had died and He brought her back to life. She is now 10 and is here for a purpose for such a time as this in my life. I look forward to the new challenge and hopefully a new career.

Just realise I haven't told you anything about myself. But so excited about taking part, a bit I don't know what hasn't been following me since signing up. I contract as a post person, write a lot and just love to be alive doing all the things I like doing. Am a gran gran too and really proud about that fact.
Cant wait to start but I have nothing to say,...

I am a poet, an artist, and a climber of trees. I'm a singer, a bookworm, and an ocean addict. I am not a dancer.
I write because I have to, as I'm sure many of us do. This is my first marathon, though I've watched from a distance in years past.

This is somewhat formal for a PIttsburgh girl--no MFA, just a love of words. By the way, I am doing half marathon.
Joan Leotta has been playing with words since childhood. She has won awards in the USA and abroad for her writing and performing. Joan has four novels, a collection of short stories, and a picture book in print. Her poetry and essays are in Gnarled Oak, Red Wolf, A Quiet Courage, Eastern Iowa Review, Hobart Literary Review, Silver Birch, Postcard Poems and Prose and others. She recently completed a second term as a Tupelo 30/30 poet and her second picture book, Summer in a Bowl, comes out in September 2016. Joan also performs folklore and one-woman shows on historic figures and teaches writing and story performance. She lives in Calabash, NC with husband Joe where you can find her walking the beach or sorting travel photos. You can reach her at www.joanleotta.wordpress.com and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joan-Leotta-Author-and-Story-Performer/188479350973

I'm a Foreign English Teacher from Thailand. I'd been writing poetry and short story for quite a while. I love poetry because of its magical effect in telling a story. This is my first poetry challenge. I am so excited and a little anxious because I was not able to pursue this passion for a long time.

Hey I am Mallika, 22 year old Fashion Design Student from India. I was born in a city named Moradabad in Western Uttar Pradesh, India and right now I am doing my graduation from Delhi NCR. I am the kind of girl who would rather choose her hot chocolate and writing a poem rather than going out. Don't get me wrong..... I love shopping too.....as much as any other girl but I happen to love my poetry more....Hope you like my writings....Love light and poetry to all.....<3

I recently broke a 20+ year writer's block! I have been freelance writing so I constantly focus on someone else's work instead of my own. I have returned to writing fiction, but have not yet made it back into the form of expression I have always been best at: POETRY! Twenty-four poems is a mere drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the poetry that is waiting anxiously in my subconscious to become manifest. This marathon is the perfect way to add necessity and deadlines to my inspiration. Even if I write the worst 24 poems imaginable, maybe my creative constipation will have passed. I'm looking so forward to this experience. Sharing it with so many other poets is fascinating and should be a great way to meet others who share my passion.

I was born in a little country town called Belden, Ms. I was raised with three brothers by a single parent until I was twelve. We relocated to Leavenworth, Ks. I graduated from LHS (Leavenworth High School) . After about twelve years of snow. Driving and sliding on ice in Kansas, we had enough so we moved. My elderly mother and I to Panama City, Fl. Yes, the beach area was what I once said.

In love with life, I am wife to my best friend and grateful mother to 7 children. A former licensed insurance agent, these days I love to ponder the classics and to write down thoughts which happen to come my way. Hopefully these reflections will lift up the beautiful, the true, and the good. I also enjoy experimenting with paleo/gluten free baking and the AIP diet. In my "past life", I lived and traveled overseas. I liked that, but these days I am passionate about pilgrimages: spiritual journeys but also this pilgrimage called life! My favorite thing, though, (besides learning as much as I can about my Catholic faith) is to just sit back with my husband and watch our children grow and bloom, like colorful flowers in a verdant field.

A writer/artist living in the Pacific Northwest. I'm inspired by the textures – visual and sonic -- of words on the page, and off; and all sorts of visual art. This is my second time participating in the Poetry Marathon. I anticipate writing writing writing, staring at the blank screen, staring out the window, writing writing writing, and drinking lots of coffee. And celebrating that others around the world are joining in this grand creative adventure. Thanks Caitlin, and Jacob, for making this possible!

I'm working on a visual poem called SCRO. It's going to be a scroll. (Also an installation I think). More about it here
https://artofcompost.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/scro-part-i/
and here
https://artofcompost.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/scro-ii/
if you're curious. Also I teach at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, USA.
Looking forward to the marathon. Laying in Sharpies, X-acto blades, a toner cartridge, caffeine, nuts and berries, energy bars.

I live in the Southwest. I dearly love writing poetry and haven't published anything yet but never give up. I'm working towards that goad now more than before. I love taking pics of my flowers and gardens and posting them along with my pics. I'm not complicated just simply enjoying life. Very excited for the challenge of this opportunity with the Half Day Marathon. Thank you

I hate writing bios but I'll give it a go.
I grew up in a pecan grove among the swamps of south Georgia, after my family settled where my Dad's folks were when he decided to retire from the Air Force. I've spent a lifetime making up stories and using my imagination from the gifts my parents gave me. I got my love of science from my Dad, Neal, and my love of people and art from my Mom, Crissee. I have a Bacheors in Social Sciences from Thomas University and now working on a Masters of Art in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University.

I'm the author of Today, She Is (Wipf & Stock, 2014), editor of The Atelier Project (CreateSpace, 2015), and editor of the blog Paper Mill. My poetry and stories have appeared in places including Ink, Sweat & Tears, Quailbellmagazine.com and The Wayfarer (forthcoming). I have an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow; I love northwest coasts and the magic of creativity.

Hi all, I have been writing since about jr high and I love it! I have won an Honorable Mention Short Story Award for my story "Timeless Love" and my book "Walk My Path" is on Amazon now. I also love to read, take lots of pictures (esp of nature and buildings), paint and scrapbook.

Hi All. My name is Gary and I am an artist, blogger, compere, publisher, spoken word performer, tutor & writer of both poetry & prose from England. Phew! Put like that it almost sounds like I can't make my mind up! But they are all linked so...
In recent years I've undertaken lots of writing & performance projects for: The Canterbury Festival's Laureate Squad; blogged as the Poet in Residence at Canterbury's Roman Museum; created ekphrastic poetry collections with pupils & artists local to me; run workshops & performed in many events & festivals in Kent.
I am currently involved with 3 poetry & prose publications: as illustrator for a WW1 anthology, The Bigger Picture : Reflections on The Great War, published by SaveAs Writers; as designer & writer of SoundLines, an eponymous, group anthology; and There Is Another Way, my poetry collection based on obsessive love; social justice & what's that out on the periphery.
I will shortly be working on both text & visual based design briefs with the Canterbury School of Visual Arts & am currently working with The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, as playwright for Return of The Unknown Warrior, a community engagement project based on WW1 & remembrance.
When not working with external groups, I belong to or co-run 3 writers groups including SaveAs Writers and my own group SoundLines, co-founded with my colleague, JL. In connection with these groups, I co-run & happily compere two monthly Spoken Word Nights in Kent, one at The Jolly Sailor in Canterbury & the second at The Lighthouse in Deal.
In the case of everything above, I write & perform because I like to get people excited by the arts and because I have to & love to. It seems like the closest thing I get to understanding how I tick or being seen as I really am.

I would consider myself a freelance/hobby writer. Although it has never turned into the career of my dreams it has been a personal hobby and my nature to openly express myself in writing since my first personal diary some 20 years ago. I come from Upstate NY with California roots. Writing was my biggest achievement and my release growing up. Writing has always been a freedom and a friend. A place to recollect and a place to hide. With this pen, the keyboard and these words you will see the words are my home, it is me and it is my comfort. I look forward to joining in the Half Marathon with everyone. Enjoy!

Most recently, I have been a substitute teacher. Before that, I lived as a "Community Organizer for Second Harvest Foodbank for a year, a GED program manager for 6 great years, and a teacher before that. Motherhood was especially bountiful; now all four girls and two boys are grown up. Grandma-hood is terrific. Most of my life has been in Ohio, but I have experienced poem- worthy visits to Washington, DC; Fort Drum, New York; Fort Lee, Virginia; Bloomfield, Iowa, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Wickenburg, Arizona; and Taos, New Mexico. My heroes are Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, Helen Prejean, and Joan Chittister and I take note of the fact that none of them are known best for their writing, they all have written significant amounts of stuff. And as if life needed a cherry on top, I have a soul mate husband.

A 53 year old semi-reformed wildman, I tend a public house in Fort Collins, Colorado. I'm a native of Central Nebraska and a former resident of North Central Kansas, Appalachian Maryland, urban New Jersey, and have been homeless in both Paris and Heidelberg. I've lived in Benedictine monastic communities in South Dakota and New Mexico.
I'm a cook and a baker and a zen garden raker. I'm sin and confession, a lie and admission. I'm a damaged, half-century, half-blind, part-time desert rat with Sandhill roots. I create with words, paint, leather, steel, beads, groceries, rocks, whatever. I'll make metaphorical music upon your flesh if you'll allow it. Upon whatever my hands find themselves upon, if you don't.
My love of poetry can be traced back to childhood but my ability to write it in a way that I consider acceptable is only about six years old. I have twice destroyed everything I've written up the conflagration point and I regret neither bonfire. Now I self-publish my own books and give them to friends as a way of not letting that happen again. I can't destroy what I don't own every copy of.

Hi, my name is Monica McCawley. I have a published book of poetry already (He is My Hero: Memoirs of a Soldier's Mom) under my pen name Monica Newton. I also do Poetry Portraits which are original poems with special backgrounds/pictures. I just recently helped teach a Poetry Camp in our area for kids ages 8-12 and we are looking at teaching it again next summer and also teaching adults. I look forward to this marathon on Saturday and wish all of you creative inspiration and success.

Hi, I'm Jana Lapel...and I've been writing poetry since the age of 7...when my mom (a professional copywriter) was my teacher! I was born in Iowa...launched my career in Chicago and ended up in Canada ...enjoying a lifetime as a singer/actor/media host & writer/voice teacher & professional clown. Writing was a bonus in my career...and now in retirement I am writing my stories in a book...but poetry is my passion! Having worked with children for forty years...I am "hooked" on Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein's styles. No matter what I write about ...I cannot resist the RHYME...alliteration...and in my darkest days (after losing my husband and clown partner in 2007) my readers noted that "you still sound like Dr. Seuss"! Poetry writing has been one of my best "medicines" ever! This is my first Marathon....and since I am an insomniac anyway....I have challenged myself to the "full meal deal"! I don't drink coffee...so this will be a 24 hour chocolate binge...ah, chocolate coated words that rhyme....sounds like a Feast to me! 🙂

I was a creative writer when young, writing mostly poetry, then got into business communications and had to change my style to dry/factual. It has taken me 10 years to unplug all those business ideas about how to write effectively and return to writing spontaneously. I am a novelist now, but I write a lot of poetry, and hope the marathon will be a reminder to keep my focus on the essence of what I want to say. That will help me in all forms of writing! I would post a profile picture, but I don't want to create a gravatar. I'm selective about where I post my face.

I was born in a city, its name is Seattle, where rain falls often and beaches are cool. I married at 19, and still love my husband, you just might say that I am a fool. Thirty some years later he still makes me laugh, there is no doubt that he's my better half. We had two lovely children, then fostered many more, some still call me Mom, when they knock on my door. I like to write poetry, I like to camp, I like to read and I like to take baths. Playing the ukulele and painting are fun. I could spend literally hours at the beach in the sun. The thing that I love on this earth, most it seems, is spending time with other people, soul to soul, or on teams. I dearly love nature, and being outside, this world is amazing, the creator can’t hide. I give praise and thanks, for all that I have. Even on hard days, my life is not bad. Stay positive and smile, look for gifts on the way, and life will be good, at the end of the day.

I am the community sports editor for two local daily newspapers, a part-time position that allows me flexibility to spend time with my two daughters and my husband. I also volunteer as the editor for my church newsletter and frequently write skits and other worship elements for the use of the youth group there. I have written Sunday school curriculum for senior high youth for the Gather Round series published by Brethren Press and also freelance articles for Messenger and Common Ground magazines. I graduated from the University of PIttsburgh with a degree in English writing (concentration in magazine writing) and have now worked for three different newspaper chains in Pennsylvania.

Hello! My name is Morgana and I have been writing poetry for about 12 years now. College put a damper in my personal writing, but--since I recently graduated--I am looking to get back into the swing! I look forward to "marathoning" with you all!

A poet born and raised in the rainforests of the PNW. Currently wandering the desert, keeping a look out for any spot of green. I mother children and pets, and if there's an hour left at the end of the day, sometimes I get a shower.

Hello! I am Janette from Bellingham, Washington and this will be my first Poetry Marathon. I will be doing the morning Half Marathon.
I am in an MFA program at the University of British Columbia. I will be taking a full-year poetry course starting in September so I am grateful to be able to participate, wake up my poetry voice, and generate some new work!

As of August 1st, 2017, I will have six YA novels published. I write for a niche market called hi-lo books; where the novels are accessible to reluctant/struggling or ELL readers. My first foray into writing was Poetry and over the years I have filled journals with my writing, even putting some poems into small chapbooks for family and friends. I love entering contests for poetry as it prompts me to write. I earned Editor's Choice in the 2013 CV2 2-Day Poem Contest, which has writers using ten words in a poem they create in 48 hours. Should be good training for the half-marathon! I host a literary open-mic in my local coffeeshop and love volunteering for the Surrey International Writer's Conference and our local theatre, The Beach House Theatre.

This biographical info was pried from my cold dead hands. I was born in the nineties, through no choice of my own. I graduated and activated and have the need to write scattershot poems of spiky tenderness, things to mean, spaces and relationshiops to reconvene in these pages that feel like an ant farm of one's own.
Indeed, I write plentifully if with little discipline. But never submit! No capitulation! No surrender! Onward to victory. Who knows what will come about from these unsummed frays. Hopefully imperative developments, escaping my Hamlet-esque state of indecisive neurotic Denmark? Of course.
This is where I can espouse my theoretical fascinations right? I care about the the jouissance of the original, the small emotional metaphysics of decision and perception, an atheist's dream of god's rogue bipedal brain cells and their declaration if not of faith then of dementia.
We are the actuators, like the rocket-ship dreamers who turned out not to be fantasists, and their phschotherapists had to reclassify their obsession, and I am proud of my interminable skepticism, frustration, self-questioning, as all you could hope for in a responsible adult. Systems for people, not the other way around! But today I wonder what will be forgiven, what will be recognised, what will be decried, what will be liberated in this marathonesque challenge, what great messages will be sent to the strangers that are so many (if any) of our readers, creating some welcome sympathy beyond the observable. And what will bounce off like a basketball off the hull of an oil tanker. And there's plenty of concepts and material complaints to assail, assuage and arse about. Just keep digging.
I am wearing flip flops, which is unusual for me. And doing this in a pair with mudlark. Wishing all of you well.

I am an American high school student with interests in reading, sports, nature, and story-telling. I'm not very experienced with writing poetry (I'm more familiar with prose), so my style strays pretty often. My main goal is to tell a story with powerful language.

Britt is originally from a small town in southwest Washington State, about 30 minutes from Portland, OR. She grew up on mountains and in rainforests and has missed Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge since she moved 3,500 miles smack dab in the middle of Connecticut. She writes poetry and short stories and enjoys table tennis and whitewater kayaking. She will talk your ear off about all things Portland and searches in the mass of the east coast populace for fellow west coasters.

I am Brooke Gale Louvier.
I grew up in New Hampshire but I’ve called Texas home for the last 13 years. I am married to an amazing man, and we had a beautiful baby girl June ’14.
I write. I believe in the importance of telling stories.
I write poetry as an attempt to see the redemption and beauty all around me, and to do my best to capture it,
my “feeble attempt to express in inexpressible.”
whereas the truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts of his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars…”
-Gustave Flaubert

Here lately I've been describing myself as a 'micro-giggin', semi-retired senior. A special joy and benefit of being a baby boomer is the freedom to pursue my passions and concentrate on one of my first loves - writing. As the middle child of seven (7), raised in a rural NE Georgia town, characters and plots abound. Hopefully, the skills learned (long ago!) as an English major will not be too too far beneath the surface. Looking forward!

I am an author, poet and storyteller. My writing is influenced by my family history, travels around the world, and the amazing writing of others, including Edgar Allan Poe, Robert ​Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson. I have several published poems and short stories ​and wrote for five years about local history for an online site.

A Professional Writer/Journalist/Short Story Writer/Blogger/Published International Author/Poet/Online English Instructor/Editor/Proofreader/Speaker. Published 2 books, "Seasons of Emotions" (UK), and "Inner Reflections of the Muse" (USA) and a co-author to more than 50 international anthologies in the USA, Canada, UK, Romania, India, and Africa. Member, American Authors Association (AAA), PEN International, and Asia Pacific Writers and Translators (APWT).

I'm a househusband, and love it. Live in Bellingham, Washington-USA. Lived twelve years in Turkey, Italy and Belgium. A proponent of play-based learning, getting along with people is my greatest strength. The Great Blue Heron is my favorite bird. Humor is the key to life for me. I've never hit anyone.

I am doing the half-marathon. I've done daily writings at times, including 30 poems in 30 days, which is sort of like this; I've also run many half-marathons, which is probably a lot more like this! I'm in Bellingham's time zone, so I'll be posting with the Left Coast-ers.

My name is Heather, I live in a small town in East Tennessee.I have loved writing and especially poetry for as long as I can remember. I was the kid hiding under the sheets with a flashlight just to read "one more chapter". Some of my favorite poets are ee cummings, Sylvia Plath, Carl Sandburg, WB Yeats, Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen, Charles Bukowski and Pablo Neruda. I haunt my local libraries and bookstores waiting to find the next book I'm going to fall in love with. I love to lie to myself, as in "I can read a few more pages then go to sleep." And "after I buy these books I'm not going to buy anymore until I read them all." Reading and writing are my refuge and the most natural things I know. I am so excited to participate in this marathon and go on this journey.

I am a current English writing and literature major and art minor at the University of New Haven. I write weekly articles for the Odyssey Online, am president of S.P.E.L.L. (Student Pagans Educating Leading and Learning), and historian of WRITE poetry club. I reside in my first grownup apartment with my roommate and plants in West Haven, CT.

I've been writing poetry for more than thirty-five of my 48 years. The hugest influence in my youth was Dylan Thomas, who taught me a lot about the music that a poem makes, and about shaping a poem into a conscious work of art. I find myself writing mostly light and humorous verse nowadays (there are always exceptions to the rule!). I'm fond of fixed forms, ghazals, villanelles, sestinas, but I also experiment wildly. Something of a chameleon on plaid, I'm afraid! Current reading includes Tom Hennen, Paul Celan, Ted Kooser, and others. Oh, yes, and I enjoy life in the suburbs of Boston, with a small indie bookstore a block from where I live! Dream come true.

Respected friends, i am from Pakistan, but born and grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and am part of the Pakistan Writers Club. Automation is my job, but poetry is my passion. Wrote various articles and local community reports that were published in news papers.

I'm a 30-something year old married mama of four. I've always lived in the deep southern United States. My pinkies are always inky (I'm a lefty). I've loved and played with words since I can remember. Who needs a Narnia wardrobe when you have a library? Also, my hero is the librarian in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Seton Hall English Major, lookin' to expand, hone, chisel, refine (i just ran out of verbs lol) her writing skills!!!
New Jersey Native, been writin' since I was 10, readin' since I was 4, and I'm toooooo soupppppeeedddd!!! (yes, coffee, tends to drive me up the wall just a teensy bit 😉 jijijiji)

Hello fellow lovers of words! My name is Sarah, or Sunshine as many of my friends call me & what I write under on http://www.bigtoughgirl.org/blog/?category=A+Shimmer+of+Sunshine (my personal website is www.sunshine-in-a-bottle.com but will be under construction soon 🙂 ) I am a word lover to the nth degree. I always have been. I had a lust for writing & reading at a very young age & over the years have stifled & waned in my writing due to life events & circumstances. Aside from being a woman, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a lover, a tomboy, an encourager, a truth seeker, & passionate as hell, I am also a birthmom, a speaker, a teller of truth, raw, humble, vulnerable, a Jesus lover, &, well, a writer. Depending on my mood is which of those (or multiples of) show up in my writing. I am a gypsy of sorts in that I have traveled & moved & shifted many times in my almost 34 years. I have been to 43 states & out of the country 10 times, I have lived & loved & hurt & cried & laughed & excelled & failed & gotten back up. And now I am here. With all of you 🙂 & I can't wait to share some of my thoughts with y'all! Thank you for having me here <3

I hail from the rainy Pacific Northwest, though I spent the bulk of my college years in the Tucson desert. I write fiction, creative nonfiction, and occasionally poetry. My favorite animals are road runners and snails because of their (polar opposite) charismas. My day job involves working closely with community college students as an academic coach.

Call me DJ if you wish. This is my first try at a half marathon and I am looking forward to it. I'm a retired 7th & 8th grade English teacher and have a piano and vocal studio in my home. Chocolate is the best thing around along with most other food. I'm and avid reader, love to sing, fly while downhill skiing, and grand children are the best thing ever invented. My husband and I camp and also visit our daughter in Europe, Africa, or Asia, wherever she is doing her freelance photojournalism. I look forward to spending some creative time myself and see what I can produce in a half marathon.

I am a work in progress. And for some reason I thought I was done, settled, figured out. But, I'm no where near any of that and am learning to be okay. I am 35, I have a masters degree and an almost phd and I am not sure why or how or if I am even going to finish. I stopped writing poetry for over a decade because I stopped being my authentic self for over a decade. Go figure. I'm in between jobs and I between ideas about what life looks like for me- goals dreams plans and so on, and I am trying to value my talents even when no one else around me does or even when (gasp!) no jobs want them and I'm in debt up to my ears. I love to read, I love to stay in bed, I love coffee and eating and I have a lovely daughter and a tumultuous everything else - marriage stuff, depression stuff, identity stuff, money stuff, growing up being adult stuff. I love Tori Amos and Weezer and Sylvia Plath and Sherman Alexie. I am an introvert who has a diverse and open mind and a heart that's trying to figure out how to open again or of it even wants to. Maybe I like being cranky. Not sure yet.

I am here doing the half marathon for the first time. I am an Empathic Spiritual Healer who's been writing a very long time. I am married with one daughter and two dogs! I recently retired from a full career in Social Work to pursue my passion.

Sulabelle is a 26 year old poet originating from Oakland, CA. She was raised in Florida, where she began writing at a young age. Today she is a graduate of Florida A&M University with her BA in Political Science and a Green For All Ambassador. She pursues a career of writing, lifestyle blogging, modeling, gardening, and environmental advocacy.

Well I'm back. My wife and I repatriated back to the states 9 months ago after living in the UK on a work assignment for two years and seven months. I grew up in Illinois, lived near Atlanta and then the UK. We now live in Houston. It's a real adjustment for me. Moving back to the US has been hard. I really love Europe. I recently started writing again. Look forward to meeting new people and like minded writers. I hope to get some of my poems and short stories published. Cheers

Hello, friends! I’m very excited to be here. My name is Ruchi and I live in Brecksville city, Ohio. I’m a published poet with a background of broadcasting media and print media, in India. I have been writing news assignments and news for a while but found my Nirvana in the poetry about 3 years back. Since then, I’m following, reading, writing, expressing thoughts, voices, and issues through my poems. I write mainly on the gender issues, social issues, and ecology. My poems have been published in online journals and anthologies in South Africa, India, UAE, Uzbekistan, and the USA.
My inspiration to write mainly come from my surroundings and memories. I am looking forward to learning from you all. And, hope to connect with the like-minded people from across the world. Best wishes.

Phillip T. Stephens, in the words of his mother, was the only child they ever planned on and the worst mistake they ever made. Unlike his father, grandfather, and three uncles, he refused the call to the ministry and was disowned by his family. They sold him at a pawn shop for thirty dollars and a first edition Thompson Chain Reference Bible autographed by Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. After being told by his minister father that he would live a life of liars if he didn’t clean up his act, Stephens plunged head first into his career, finishing in the finals of the Texas Liars competition in West, Texas three years in a row but never defeating George Bush, or Donald Trump (who somehow provided a Texas birth certificate). He rescues cats with his wife Carol for www.austinsiameserescue.org

Caroline Nazareno a.k.a. Ceri Naz, is a multi-awarded poet, editor, journalist, public speaker, linguist, educator and women’s advocate. Ceri Naz won the concluded Frang Bardhi Literary Prize 2014 in Albania. She received the sair- gazeteci ( Poet-Journalist) award during the 34th KIBATEK International Festival of Literature and Arts in Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey on November 8, 2014.
She was chosen World Poetry international Director to Philippines by World Poetry Canada and International.
She was a featured poet at Vancouver Word 0n The Street, World Poetry Canada and International and Poetry Around The Globe. She was awarded Empowered Poet 2013 during the World Poetry International Peace Festival 2013 in Vancouver ,Canada. Graduating cum laude with the degree of Bachelor of Elementary Education, major in General Science at Pangasinan State University. Ceri Naz pursued higher studies in journalism, public speaking and leadership. She earned her post graduate studies in Administration and Supervision at Eulogio ‘’Amang’’ Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology. She had learned about the Nanotechnology and Aerospace at Massachussetts Institute Technology on June 2012. Currently,she writes for the Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and contributes to Reflection Magazine.
http://poetassigloveintiuno.blogspot.com.es/search/label/FILIPINAS
http://atunispoetry.com/2015/06/06/poetry-chronicles-of-caroline-nazareno/

I live in Poughkeepsie, NY with my husband and 2 year old son. I have been writing for almost 30 years, and have taught at both the high school and college level. Looking forward to getting my creative juices flowing with this marathon!

Multi-genre writer Jody T. Morse freelances for numerous publications such as ArtHouston, TexasLiving and Verbatim Poetry. She won WILDsound Festival’s One-Page story contest in May 2016 and blogs for the Luna Station Quarterly – a speculative fiction magazine. Jody is a member of the Writespace Writing Center and is an editorial assistant for Writership and Before & After Editing. Visit her website to learn more: www.bountifulbalconybooks.com.

Hey everyone, my alias is Angel of Light. I'm on various websites like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Fanfiction, and Fictionpress, but I only have one series that defines me as a writer. It is called Darryl & Diana. If you are into romance novels, it is a series worthy of a read. I am here to better myself as a writer, so I can do whatever it takes to make my Darryl & Diana series the best series it can be.

Lover of creativity, nature, books, movies, and so much more. I just moved from NJ to Florida and figured while I get settled why not get the creative juices flowing with a poetry marathon. Finishing up my studies for business but would also love to make writing more than just a hobby one day. If you enjoy my poetry feel free to check out my wordpress blog that I linked in my profile and/or my Instagram the.greatest.story.ever.told.

Writing poetry since I was a child, with most of my poetry created over heartbreaks and fictional characters I created for Skotos' Castle Marrach MUSH. This is my first half-marathon and I'm excited to participate and see what I create!

I fell into poetry by accident, having been challenged by a friend to start writing again. When I wrote in my teens and twenties, (now in my 40s) I always thought of myself as a short-story writer, and thought poetry was "not my thing." My first notebook of poems was jokingly called Maria's Big Book of Bad Poetry, though I soon realized that not only did I enjoy poetry, but my poems weren't quite as "bad" as I pretended there would be.

I'm a teacher, artist, and sometimes writer. Originally from Chicago, I live in mountains in New Mexico, with my husband, two daughters, and a bunch of animals - dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and pigeons. I've lived in NM longer now, than I lived in Chicago. I love to teach and write poetry to my elementary students. I spent grad school (in art ed) making books/collages, and writing poems. I try to do both when I can, and want to do more!

Jax lives in a wonderful part of Spain, Galicia, with her sainted better half, John and one cat, Freddie.
She feels very fortunate to be able to have left the busy life of an employed person, but she is busier now than she ever was. She is currently building 200 meters of dry stone walling, not all at once, creating a garden from half a mountain and plotting and scheming her next creative adventure. She is passionate about textiles and pattern and has been known to disappear into her workroom and not surface for several days, except for food and sleep.
She creates items from scratch sculpting concrete planters and moulding beeswax candles.
She loves the winter when she can light the wood-burner, pour a coffee and write. This is an impossible task in the summer the weather is too glorious and she loves the outdoors.

I'm an English teacher with writerly aspirations. I've got a nearly edited novella, two half-written novels, dozens of somewhat defective short stories that need some TLC to see the light of day. I've been writing poetry as long as I've been writing, but it's fallen by the wayside. Time to put it front and center, at least for a day.

I'm a Riyadh City-based poet and freelance writer. I studied English Literature at university. I love reading and writing. I wrote many articles that were published in various web magazines. I am excited to be a part of this poetry marathon.

Painfully introverted and woefully insecure -- I recently shared a years old poem with the friend who had inspired it. Their response has nudged me to explore this idea of poetry, and the half marathon seems to be a safe place to start writing poetry outside of my battered composition book shoved in the depths of my laptop bag.

Eduful Ishmael,popularly known for his art and creative works as (Kofi Acquah) is a young aspiring African poet,a writer and a spoken word artist.He was born in the Central Region of Ghana.He is in a poetry movement called ''THE VILLAGE THINKERS'',and they receive numerous accolades every now and then especially when they are seen on the podium with tight spoken word performances and flows!

Jessica Swafford is a writer and poet from Georgetown, Kentucky. She has participated the last five years in Lexington Poetry Month. She is currently part of the Gauntlet, a year long, generative writing workshop.

I have been writing poems since second grade when I won was recognized for writing a poem about Abraham Lincoln. After that I was hooked and thus began a lifetime of poetry as a way of life. I wrote constantly throughout school. I wrote poems in math class. I wrote poems in science class. It was all I wanted to do. In college I majored in creative writing and my final project was a poetry book. Recently I moved to Ventura, California and won a poetry contest hosted by Ventura county. It is my love and it is my passion.

Swedish, 23-year old, DFAB intergender person.
Likes science fiction books, pop culture, computers, animals and art.
I will be doing a lot of things on the 23rd, including going to a massive party organized by a socialist party, cleaning, eating tacos, and seeing my lover for the last time in almost a year.
I therefore plan to write my poems about what I experience and feel.
I don't have a particular style I usually write in, but I'm very inspired by (read as: unnaturally attached to) Rimbaud and Palahniuk, so I'm guessing that will probably show.
I might write some of my poetry in Swedish, or mix languages, but I'll try and write most of it in English.

My husband of 22 years, says living with me is like living with one of those static display balls in a science fair! I'm a creative, like you, and a million thoughts a day distract me - so this is a challenge and I'm excited to do it again. I have a son, a daughter, two stepdaughters, two dogs and a cat. I'm a grandmother, great-grandmother, a poet (so some say) and I write children's books, video script editing for animated stories. I'm not as techie as I once thought I was, but I do have a blog and a couple facebook pages. Retired from a Christian Non-Profit in 2012 and I'm still trying figure out what I will be when I grow up.